01-29-2008, 09:41 AM
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The tentative, honest words were met by nothing less than what looked like a jolt of fury, of course, and it was so vicious that although he could not reach her she cowered back, almost colliding with the hard table-edge. Holding onto it with both hands, she wondered in a detached way why it seemed like the world was spinning. His parting words were not much more than a jumble of antagonism to her, and as he removed himself it took a few moments to realise, listening to the footfalls receding into the distance, that he was really gone. Wiping her eyes with now-dusty fingers, she waited for a moment, then crossed the room, tense and light. There was no sound, no smell outside. She should get out - now, before he thought to come back. If he was waiting around the corner, so be it.
It took just seconds to knock the chair-frame away from the handle, although it was wedged tightly by his repeated assaults upon the door. Then the minutes began to crawl by as she tugged on the door, forwards, backwards, trying both sides, and finally jiggling the doorhandle - when finally, gloriously the catch came free and the whole thing swung open. With only a small sense of freedom, for the corridor seemed as treacherous as her trap, she stepped outside, and without wasting a moment took to her heels and fled down the dusty halls, not to stop running until the perceived safety of home closed around her.